Indigenous Music and Dance explores a range of Indigenous music and dance forms and performances in the Torres Strait and tropical Northern Territory. It reveals the way traditional music and dance have responded to colonial control and, more recently, to other external forces. The book explores the way musical past and present exist as a continuum of creativity and the contested nature of contemporary cultural performances. In addition, this book looks at the cross-cultural issues of recording and teaching music and dance. Individual contributors, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, demonstrate how local music and dance have been subjected to missionary, institutional, popular and global influences. They provide a cultural background and history of Torres Strait music and discuss how contemporary Christian music and dance in Arnhem Land incorporates traditional ritual. They unpack the complex form and structure of an Australian Aboriginal song series and examine the transformation of

Born on Thursday Island in 1929, Seaman Dan didn't release his debut album, 'Follow the Sun', until his 70th birthday. In the next ten years he released five albums, showcasing traditional music from the Torres Strait, as well as those revealing his love of jazz and blues. Steady, Steady: The life and music of Seaman Dan is replete with Uncle Seaman's stories of his active and sometimes dangerous life in the islands in the heyday of pearl diving and other jobs, and his later development as a professional singer/musician. The book includes many evocative and previously unknown images sourced from family and friends and will include a CD of tracks reflecting important periods in the life of this national treasure. Listen to a sample of Seaman Dan's favourite songs